Saying Goodbye & Dangerous Wishes
by 8EternallyMortal8
Summary: Here I must say farewell to all of you, but not before giving you the sequel to Salvation Unseen. I hope all of you will enjoy my periodic updates of Dangerous Wishes..
1. Chapter 1

First of all, I have to apologize to you guys. I know I made a lot of promises, and I had an off a lot of ideas that I really wanted to write about. Don't Touch my Seaweed Brain, I know I promised you so many ideas that I sent to you. Those stories will never be completed, and for that I apologize specifically to you. To everyone who read my first story, _**I know I promised you a sequel to Salvation Unseen.**_ I had the plot all prepared, but I just couldn't seem to write it. I'll give you the outline in the follow-up chapter to this note, but I'm afraid I didn't write the actual story for you guys.

When I first started writing fanfiction a couple of years ago, my intent was only for it to benefit my writing style and for me to develop into a better author. It's helped me immensely just within these past few years, but this is as far as it can take me. Recently fanfiction for me has become an obsession - both in the aspects of Percy Jackson and writing the fanfiction itself. I've realized that I can go no further in it benefiting my writing career, and, at this point, it will only prevent me from developing. It's time to leave the obsession before it becomes desperation.

I know I've promised you a lot of things, but sometimes people make promises they can't keep. In this case I've made promises that weren't good for me in the long run. I have so many ideas to write as actual stories that I don't even know where to start. But if I keep writing fanfiction, none of those stories will ever happen. Inspiration is a blessing for a writer. It doesn't always come along. It must be used wisely and in the way the best benefits everyone. For me, the best choice seems to be writing real stories that may someday be published for everyone to read. I hope all of you can understand. Lately I've been sucked down into the rabbit hole of Percy Jackson and fanfiction that I couldn't crawl my way out. It made for a fascinating experience, and it was a lot of fun while I was down there, but sometimes you have to face the reality. There's a life out there that's meant for me to live, and even if that means delving into an entire new fantasy that I create, it's better than trying to live in someone else's fantasy your entire life. I want to fulfill my dreams before I get sucked permanently into the rabbit hole.

To Don't Touch my Seaweed Brain, and to everyone else, I'm sorry I couldn't fulfill all of my promises. Something CassJayTuck said has been bothering me. Something about how why would great writers waste their lives on fanfiction when they could be writing their own stories. She's right. Fanfiction is a wonderful environment, and it's given me so many opportunities, but that time is over. **I'll be uploading snippets of my incomplete sequel I started for Salvation Unseen following this note. I may or may not put up sections of other stories I started for further inspiration. It depends on how many people want to read them..** I hope it can inspire all of you to write your own stories, as well as fanfictions.

I need to learn where my prime focus lies in life, and where my secondary focus is and so on. Lately I've forgotten what's important to me. I've been consumed by all of this. Again, I hope you can understand. Enjoy your trip down the rabbit hole while it lasts, but don't let is bury you alive..

-8EternallyMortal8


	2. Dangerous Wishes Chapter 1

**Dangerous Wishes**

_There is a certain mystery_

_In learning your own history_

_A magic that you never knew_

_A story you once thought untrue_

_And that my readers is the start_

_It is the most important part_

**Hey everybody. This is 8EternallyMortal8. I mentioned in the previous note that I was planning on giving you the outline of Dangerous Wishes (the sequel to Salvation Unseen), but there's a little more to it. I wrote quite a few scenes to this story, so what I'm really giving you is a mixed patchwork of scenes and of summaries of the parts of the plot that I skipped over in pre-writing.**

**I hope you enjoy, even if it's not fully completed. If you have any questions about the story, please ask and I'll try to answer them as best as I can. I'll update this every once in a while with more sections of the sequel just in case there were any questions. I'll let you know when my updates are officially done, because that's when I'll be leaving FanFiction for good.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson Characters. I only own this plotline and the children you are about to glimpse into the lives of. Good luck readers.. You're in for a wild ride.**

_**Dangerous Wishes**_

Alexander Blofis had never minded walking home, especially not on the last day of school. It gave him time to think and let go of everything else - to just skate.

Today was different, though. It was later than the other days, and this time Alex didn't have his skateboard.

Well, he did have it. In pieces.

The dark haired mortal winced as he touched his fingers to his face. That was definitely a bruise. He would probably come away from this with more than just the black eye he had earned earlier that day.

Alex smirked. At least Carson hadn't gotten away unscathed. The legacy had earned his broken nose.

Of course, that also meant detention on the last day of school. Alex had a sudden sinking feeling in his chest as he realized that he was now probably as good as dead.

The teenager sat down at the empty curb and stared at the shattered remains of his skateboard. His heart sunk even further. Carson's cronies had caught him after detention. He was going to have bruises for months and no one was going to care. Nobody cared what happened to mortals.

The dark street was suddenly lit by a pair of blinding headlights. Alex squinted through his fingers as his hand flew to his face. The vehicle slowed down beside him and came to a stop with a low screech.

The car was familiar. Too familiar.

Alex knew that his father usually took this route to drive home. He would see him sometimes if his dad was running late and if Alex was leaving school early. But the teenager knew for a fact that his dad had a shorter work day today. - That he had been planning to spend the afternoon with Kate, whose Kindergarten class got out early today as well. But as the car slowed to a stop by his spot on the pavement, Alex could see the definite features of Fredrick Blofis in the front seat.

The window lowered, and his father met his gaze evenly. His smile suddenly turned crooked in the way their mother had fondly told them he was famous for.

"Need a ride?"

Alex got in.

Fredrick Blofis had a set of definite features that you could never forget. Alex had inherited his messy black hair but hadn't been fortunate enough to receive the startling green eyes. If he had, maybe the teen would have been noticed more by girls instead of just by Carson and his pack of legacy cronies.

Alex had always thought that his father deserved a name more unique than Fredrick. Something more exotic and heroic. He couldn't say that part of it wasn't for selfish purposes, either. Who wanted to tell their class that their dad's name was 'Fred' when there were so many more exciting names out there - most of which belonged to half-bloods or legacies. It wasn't memorable, and that meant that nobody saw his dad the way he always had.

Or, at least, the way he used to.

When Alex was little, his father had been his hero. His pinnacle of perfection. That was before his two-years-younger sister Cassy had informed him that nobody else thought of mortals as heroes, and that real heroes worked at the outer edge. The place were only people with godly blood were allowed to work. The outside of each city where the monsters roamed, trying to get in. People thought of the important figures - like Carson's dad - as heroes. The demigods. And then there was the 'king' himself, _Percy Jackson_.

"So," his dad angled his head back while still staring at the road. "You want to explain to me why Ms. Plincherd had to call me in today for an hour long meeting in which she explained how and how not to raise children?"

Alex flinched. He hadn't known the councilor had called his dad in. It was probably for the same reason that he was late. The same reason as to why Alex had gotten a detention.

"It was nothing." he muttered under his breath, gritting his teeth and clenching his fingers into a fist.

"I wouldn't call a fight with Carson La Rue nothing."

"Why?" Alex grumbled lowly. His father usually had his head on straight, but sometimes he wondered if the man wasn't a little too forgiving to the world around him - a little too understanding. "Because he's a _legacy_?"

He saw his father's hands tighten around the steering wheel. "No." he answered, his voice tight. "I meant that you seem to be fighting with him an awful lot lately."

The grey eyed fourteen-year-old rolled his eyes, suddenly feeling annoyed at his dad's typical adult-ed-ness. "Yeah. And somehow I'm the only one that _ever_ gets in trouble. I wonder why."

The car was silent for a moment. Fredrick kept shifting his shoulders as if to release the tension, but Alex could see how stiff and rigid his father was.

"Alexander." The word was softly spoken with a hinted intenseness that it seemed only his Father could produce. It was when he heard his full name that Alex knew he had done something completely wrong. "You should watch what you say. ..."

"What?" The boy spoke defensively, but inwardly he was unsure. The little voice inside of him was telling him to shut up, because when he was upset, Fredrick Blofis was terrifying. But Alex couldn't seem to stop his big mouth. "So we just keep letting them get away with everything they do? Let them keep teaching us stupid history classes about how they 'saved the world' and about the oh-so-illusive Percy Jackson? Why do we even-"

_"You weren't there, Alex!"_ Fredrick yelled, pounding his fist on the steering wheel. The car slammed to a stop. "You didn't live through the war! You didn't see your home in ruins or live in fear of the monsters that ran rampant through the streets!"

The raven haired teenager stared down at his hands as he fidgeted in his seat. The fourteen-year-old glanced awkwardly out the window before glancing back and meeting the gaze of two raging green eyes. Alex knew his father could be the funniest person in the world - carefree and trusting - but when he was completely serious, Mr. Blofis was absolutely terrifying.

"Who do you think protected the mortals?"

"Dad-"

"What do you think you know about the demigods who saved our lives?"

"We know everything already dad!" Alex yelled, frustrated. He couldn't get the image of Carson out of his head - punching him while calling him a stupid, worthless mortal. "We know that they're a bunch of pretentious snobs who decided to finally help save us _after_ our city was already destroyed. We're taught to just now down to them because they're more powerful than us. And now everyone _worships_ Percy Jackson because he's the living legend who could destroy the world in one wave if he was in a bad mood. I'm sick of learning about the demigod 'hierarchy', dad! We already know everything about them!"

Fredrick stared into the light of their headlights on the road. He didn't speak as he silently turned the key and once again started up the car.

"No," his father muttered under his breath as they road into the night. "Not everything."

**This is the first section. The next will be up in accordance with the responses I get. I hope all of you can enjoy the story, even if it's only bits and pieces of it..**


	3. Dangerous Wishes Chapter 2

Dangerous Wishes

**So a very relevant question was asked this past chapter about Fredrick Blofis and Alex's possible relation to Paul and thus to Percy. To Hibernia12 and to everyone else: Alex is indeed related to Percy. In fact, Fredrick Blofis _is_ Percy Jackson (as you might have noticed by his description). No mortal or monster in the war ever saw his face (unless you count his family or the monsters in the Concentration Camp he infiltrated who were supposedly all destroyed). Because of this, he decided to change his name to keep his identity a secret. Annabeth's mortal parents died during the war, so Percy changed his name to Fredrick in honor of Fredrick Chase. Because all important documents were destroyed during the Titan and Giant wars, there was no proof that Percy's name was not Fredrick Blofis - the perfect cover. For their safety, his children don't even know who their parents are.**

**As for Annabeth, she's just** **"Ann" they decided she was safe as long as no one knew who her husband was.**

**Another detail that will come up: All of the cities populated by the earth have a protective boundary run by the demigods to keep the monsters out. There are safe roads between cities, blah blah blah blah blah... They occasionally send hunting parties out to kill monsters. But more on that later; you get the point for now...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and his demigod friends. I only own the plot and the kids.**

**Enjoy! ;)**

**_Setting: The Living Room of the Blofis house. Alex and his father have just gotten home and are still arguing about Alex getting in trouble._**

"They let him off because he was a legacy!" Alex yelled.

"You punched him in the face!" his father called back. "I don't care if he's a mortal or a legacy or Zeus himself! You don't go around picking fights with people."

The gray eyed boy thought he heard a noise of humored disbelief from his mother behind him as she muttered something about hypocrisy.

Fredrick eyed his wife with a mix of playfulness and frustration, having apparently heard it as well.

"In any case," he spoke, turning back to Alex, "Now both the principal and the school councilor are seriously considering holding you back a year to delay any more confrontation between you and Carson."

"What?!" the teenager called. "They can't hold me back! I just got out of that dump of a Gradeschool!"

"Alexander." his mother spoke softly but sternly from behind him. The warning in her voice made him stop.

He really did love his parents, but this wasn't a battle he was about to loose. Carson La Rue had to be brought to justice.

"We could always talk to Clarisse and Chris." Mrs. Blofis spoke.

Alex's father's face hardened. "You know Clarisse and I have never gotten along."

"Wait, since when have you known demigods?"

"Not right now, Alex." his mother spoke in warning.

Fredrick sat down on the living room couch, rubbing his hand through his hair and over his eyes. "Everyone in the war knew a half-blood or two. I had the unpleasant experience of knowing Clarisse."

"Here we go again," the dark-haired boy grumbled. "I don't even know anything about my own parents! You never tell us anything! Why can't you just trust me?"

"I think you know that answer."

"Fredrick-"

"And why do you have to be so .. normal?" Alex spoke in exasperation. "Why can't you have cool jobs like my friends' parents? For the gods' sakes, Nathan's dad is a legacy! ITALICS All of my friends have interesting families. I'm just that boring kid that doesn't belong. How do you think that feels? It's not fair!"

The two adults remained silent; they shared a look. Alex's blood boiled even further. They always knew things that he didn't; it was like they thought they were on a higher level of existence or something. They never told him _anything_.

"Forget it. I don't need your pity. You'll never understand me anyway."

He grabbed his basketball from by the door and slammed it behind him. If he was lucky, the park would be empty; maybe nobody would recognize the kid from the family nobodies.

. . .

"Hey, wait up!"

Alex glanced behind by reflex, which he knew was a mistake as soon as he saw who was calling out to him. The boy sped up his pace as his sister fought to catch up with him.

"You shouldn't say things like that," Cassy told him. He looked over to see her out of breath, but she didn't look angry. For some reason, that only made him madder.

"How can you be so calm about this?" Alex snapped. "Aren't you going to give me some stupid lecture about being a good son or something?"

"Hey, it's your life," she told him, stopping. "I'm just trying to warn you before it's too late."

He pushed forward, his gaze unmoving, but he stopped when he noticed she wasn't following him. Alex turned to see her heading back to the house.

The teenager suddenly felt very empty.

What was wrong with him? He had to have done something pretty major in order to get _that_ kind of reaction from Cassy. The little know-it-all could usually _never_ Istop talking.

He turned again, bouncing the basketball. Forget his family. He didn't need them; he didn't need anybody.


	4. Dangerous Wishes Chapter 3

Dangerous Wishes

**I just couldn't wait for this part. This is one of my favorites. It's the same night as Alex storms out. I don't think it really needs any more explaining...**

**Thank you guys so much for your excitement and your reviews. I love to hear from my minions. ;)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own, but I do imagine.**

**Please enjoy! :)**

That night Alex dreamed. He barely ever dreamed, and when he did he didn't remember much, and they were most certainly never vivid, but that night his dream was as clear as if it was really happening.

Alexander found himself in his parents' bedroom standing at the door. He couldn't speak and he couldn't move, but his vision was just as if he was standing right there.

His father was sitting on the edge of the bed; his upper body was bear and his shirt lay beside him. He was staring down, wringing his hands. Alex's mother walked in from the back closet still fully clothed, a set of folded night-close in her hands. When she saw Fredrick's unfocused stare she came and sat down beside him.

"P~~~~"

The word was blotted out except for the first sound. The black haired teen felt like there was cotton stuffed in his ears.

His mother grabbed her husband's hand, pulling it away from the other and onto her lap. She massaged it between her fingers. The green eyed man ran his free hand through his hair and sighed.

"What do we do A~~~~~~~? He doesn't understand. How could he? You know what he thinks.."

"P~~~~," Alex's mother spoke the word again. "What if it's time..?"

His head raised warily towards her. "To what - to tell them? He's picking fights with Clarisse's son, A~~~~~~~. How do you think he's going to take this? He thinks Percy Jackson is the embodiment of evil."

Ann bent down in front of him and took his face in her hands. Their foreheads almost touched.

"I know you're scared." she whispered. Her eyes spoke a thousand emotions that Alex didn't often glimpse in his parents - the secrets and feelings welled up in them. Alex had started to wonder a while ago if he really even knew his parents; now he wondered if they might have a good reason for not telling him.

His father reached up and gripped one of Ann's hands, the gesture gentle yet desperate.

"I almost lost you once because of who I am." Fredrick's voice was full of pain and remorse. "I promised myself that would never happen to them."

Ann reached up and closed the gap between them for a brief kiss before embracing him.

"They'll be ok." she spoke soothingly. "They're strong. They're our kids, after all."

Alex saw his father smile slightly.

His mother leaned back and looked at his father. "I just don't want you to lose who you are."

Fredrick's raised his hand to her face before running it down her neck. Alex's face grew warm and he coughed awkwardly, half-hoping he would be heard. Fortunately his father's hand didn't go any further. He fingered something hanging around Ann's neck and running under her shirt - a chain of some sort.

"You still wear it."

His smile was bitter-sweet - hers' mirrored his.

"It reminds me of what I am. I can never forget the past, but I can use it to help the future."

Fredrick pulled her close to himself again. "Do you have to go on this business trip?"

Ann smiled sadly, wrapping her arms around his neck before answering. "The Architecture firm needs me. There was a break in the boundary wall down in Texas. I have to go to make sure everything's ok. Leo'll be there to help. I'll be fine."

Fredrick smiled his devious half-smile. "It's not you I'm worried about."

The dream started to fade.

"You'll be fine." His mother's voice floated through the fog. "It's only a month. Now come on. Let's go to bed."

**And who remembers exactly what Annabeth has around her neck?**

**(At this point it's VERY important that everyone here has read Salvation Unseen, or you really won't understand this chapter and you DEFINITELY won't understand the next one...)**

**Ask me any of your fabulous questions. I am ready and able to answer.**


	5. Dangerous Wishes Chapter 4

**Dangerous Wishes**

**Guys I am sooooo sorry. I should have updated forever ago, but I got side tracked. That, and I've been working on my publishable stories and the development of my characters. ... Aaaaaand more than a few character deaths, which my bestie will ultimately kill me for.**

**But, now I'm back and I want to share the next chapter with you guys, I hope you're still interested enough to hang on 'till the end.  
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**Disclaimer: The plot is mine but Percy Jackson is not. Sorry. ;)**

_Setting: It's during the summertime and the Blofis children are home alone. Fredrick is out working, and Mrs. Blofis is on a trip for work, having flown out to another part of the country to help the Nation-wide Architecture firm she runs (one of the first groups to set up after the war and start the mission to rebuild the cities for protection). Alex is still angry at his parents and goes to the one place in the house the children are banned from ever going: the attic..._

Alex traced his way down the stairs, the amulet in his hands.

"Where did you get that?" Cassy snapped, Alex looked over to see her staring at him, eyes wide.

"Just the attic. What do you think it is?"

"I thought we weren't supposed to go up to the attic."

Alex turned to see Kate standing behind him.

"We're not," Cassy spoke, glaring. "and it's mom's, that's what it is."

"Oh yeah," Alex countered, "then why have I never seen her wear it?"

"She's _always_ wearing it, dummy. She just usually has it on under her shirt. Once I caught a glimpse of it and asked her what it was; she said it was a present from dad and that along time ago she promised she'd never take it off."

"Does that mean she wears it in the shower?" Kate asked.

The siblings ignored the five year old's innocent comment.

"Well then, oh so _wise one_, then why isn't she wearing it now?"

"You probably stole it!"

"From around her neck?!"

"Maybe it's daddy's."

Both Alex and Cassy turned to their little sister.

"Yeah," the boy spoke after a moment, rounding on the blonde. "That's it; maybe it's dad's."

"Than why do _you_ have it?" the gray eyed girl snapped.

"What is the problem, Cassy? It's not like he's using it."

"You can't be serious." she rolled her eyes. "You're so impertinent. Give it to me." She held out her hand.

"Nuh uh." Alex gloated. Maybe he was being impertinent, but the teenager didn't care. "You're not gonna get your way this time."

"It's 'going to', the 12-year-old corrected, snatching up the other end of the chain. "Now give it!"

The siblings tugged on the necklace until Alex let go, grinning at his sister. Cassy staggered back and fell backwards, losing her grip. The necklace went swinging towards Kate.

"No!" Cassandra yelled.

But the amulet changed mid-air, morphing in a glow of un-ethereal light. A cloak of deep blue cloth settled on their their little sister, and giggling could be heard from underneath. Kate stuck her head out, stumbling around in the mass of fabric.

"Magic!" Kate squealed with delight.

"It's magic alright," Alex spoke in awe. "godly Magic."


	6. Dangerous Wishes Chapter 5

**Dangerous Wishes**

**I'm back, minions. I'm really, Reeeeeeally sorry I was gone so long. :( I hope this isn't becoming a bad habit.. So, people have been asking me for longer chapters. I'm afraid that won't happen so easily because these are short, previously-written segments that I never fully completed. Some of them are unfortunately VERY short. The only consolation I can give you is that I'm**

**Updating the rest of the story today. (Although it's in bits and pieces.)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson.**

**Setting: Alex and his siblings are stuck in their mission to discover the purpose of the amulet/cloak and where it came from. They want to know why it was in their house and why their mother has one - as a gift from their father, no less. Alex wants to take drastic measures to find out what this necklace is from and for...**

"What do we do with it?"

The room was silent as the three siblings stared at the object on the table before them.

"I want to take it to show and tell." Kate told them, staring up at her siblings before stretching her arm over the table's surface in an effort to reach the amulet.

"No!" Cassy spoke, immediately grabbing it and placing it on the refrigerator next to them. "This is serious Kate. We don't even know what this things is; it could be dangerous."

"Oh come on, Cass." Alex stared at her scoffingly. "It's not like it blew up or anything like that. Being magic doesn't make it dangerous."

"You're right." The long haired blonde folded her arms and frowned at him. "But letting it fall into the hands if an irresponsible teenage boy who wants to have power over half his school Does make it dangerous."

The older boy glared back at her.

"Cassy." Kate tugged on her arm lightly. "What is it, again?"

The twelve-year-old blinked for a second and then stared down at the little girl. If she really thought about it..

She looked up at Alex. "Actually, I really have no idea what it is."

"Well we need to know." the boy in question stated. "The real problem is how."

Alex paced the room; he turned.

"We have to go to the outer edge."

"What?!" Cassandra stood abruptly and stared at him. "You're crazy; you really are! We _can't_ go to the outer edge. It's outside the protective boundary! That's where the _monsters_ are!"

"You're the one who's always saying to search for knowledge." Alex accused. "This might just be our only chance to do that." The raven-haired boy held out the amulet. "Don't you want to know what this thing is?"

"Just let me get this straight," she told him, glaring "You want to go somewhere dangerous - somewhere practically illegal - so that you can maybe find someone to tell you about an item you found in the attic - a place mom and dad banned you from ever going to in the first place."

"I'm going no matter what, Cassy," he told her stubbornly, "whether you're coming with me or not."

"I'm going too." Kate spoke importantly, standing next to Alex while trying to look serious - something very difficult to do between her large green eyes, her cute cheeks, and her mass of black curls. She looked more like a confused puppy than anything.

Alex's chest tightened up a little bit at the thought of walking Kate into a place like that, but he only turned to Cassy, raising his eyebrow imploringly.

"No, you're not," Cassandra told Kate. "Someone has to guard the house until we get back." She met her brother's eyes with a glare. "Alex and I are going alone."

**(Of course, Kate sneaks along anyway.)**

**Don't worry about the length. The next chapter should be up shortly. If not, you have every right to complain.**


	7. Dangerous Wishes Chapter 6

**Alex Part 6**

**Setting: Alex and Cassandra went outside the boundary, followed but Kate who wore "Mommy's special cap" because she missed their mother and was scared at the thought of sneaking along. They soon discovered the cap made her invisible, which was what made it so easy for them to not catch her trailing them until they were already out of the safety of the city and Kate slipped her hand into Alex's to feel safer. By then it was too late to take her back. The three siblings went to a shop and found out the necklace was the sign of an elite demigod order run by Percy Jackson himself under orders of the gods. They leave the shop where they found this out and Alex runs into a frightening stranger...**

Alex was about to plunge into the crowd after them (his sisters) when he felt a set of gnarled fingers grasping his arm. He whirled to see an old woman hunched behind him.

"Who- Who are you?"

"My apologies, darling." she croaked out to him. "I thought I recognized you as someone else."

She had a thick, exotic voice, and Alex could tell she must've been beautiful once. As it was, her features had become mutilated by old age.

"It's alright," he told her nervously. The black-haired boy tried to pull his arm free, but the woman's grip was surprisingly strong.

"Grandmother!"

A boy a couple of years older than Alex ran up behind the woman. His straw-like hair fell into his watery, piercing blue eyes as he honed in on the old woman and her catch.

"We've got to go," he spoke with demanding impatience. "Who is this?" The question was clipped with annoyance, and Alex couldn't help but compare the man with a very unwelcoming scarecrow.

"I mistook him for someone your father once knew," the old lady told him, but her eyes were still on Alex. They had a knowing glint in them, almost as if the statement held a deeper meaning that he didn't know about.

The scrawny blond boy narrowed his eyes before turning away.

"Come on," he snapped at the crone. "let's not waste the boy's time."

As the two were swallowed by the shabby crowd of monsters and outcasts, the gray eyed boy felt a cold chill. Something tugged on his arm and he jumped.

"Are you alright?"

Cassy stood beside him, a look of worry painted across her features. "You look shaken up."

Alex reached over, feeling his left forearm. He could still feel the iron grip of the woman's hand, her chipped, blood-red fingernails digging into his skin.

"Yeah," he muttered, staring into the crowd. "It's nothing. Let's get out of here."

**Can you guess who the lady was? ;) (Hint: Anyone read Salvation Unseen?)**


	8. Dangerous Wishes Chapter 7

**Setting: The same day as the last chapter. Guess who followed the kiddies home?**

Being kidnapped by a crazed eighteen-year-old and his crimson-clawed grandmother was not something Alex had planned on when he'd found the amulet in his parents' attic. He couldn't really remember how it happened, but one minute he and his sisters were on the sidewalk a block from their house, and the next the world was turning black.

It was Kate's voice that roused him from his dazed slumber, his head still pounding behind his eyes.

Alex stared around the small cage looking for his youngest sister. His eyes wandered past Cassy's unconscious body to the curly haired girl on the other side of the cell.

"Doggy!" Kate was shrieking and giggling, reaching her hand out to a giant black dog with glowing red eyes. The creature lowered its ears and snarled, backing up and snapping at the little girl, but it's snarl turned into a confused whine as Kate continued to reach through the bars. She stuck her tongue out with effort as she tried to push further to pet the 'doggy'.

"Kate!" Alex yelled. He jumped up and launched himself the three feet between himself and his youngest sibling, jerking her back from the large black beast. It snapped at them again and sulked away into the shadows surrounding the cage.

"Al-ex," the little girl whined, looking up at her brother with big green eyes.

The fourteen-year-old fell onto his back, his breaths heavy and labored. This girl would be the death of him.

Cassy stirred next to them and groaned, pushing her long hair out of her eyes. She slowly and achingly pulled herself up into a sitting position. The cage was four-feet-by-four-feet, which gave the three siblings enough room to breathe, but Alex still felt cramped. The raven-haired teen never would've admitted it out loud, but he'd always had a slight fear of tight spaces, and his claustrophobia was starting to get to him.

Then he felt a familiar grip rest on his shoulder.

Alex sat up quickly, clutching his little sister tightly to his chest. The raven haired boy turned, and his gray eyes rested on a a bony-fingered crone. Her hands were wrapped around the cage's bars from the outside, her blood red fingernails as chipped and grimy as the last time the boy had seen them. She smiled gruesomely, a mix of pleasure and hate in her eyes. Alex scooted back until he was pressing into the opposite side of the cage.

A growl sounded behind him and the scent of rotting breath filled the air. The dog had come back.

A humming, buzzing filled the air as the lights flickered on one by one. Cassandra and Alex stared at each other, eyes wide. Both of them turned to see the giant, crumbling wear house flood with half-hearted light.

Kate squirmed out of her older brother's arms and stared up at the old lady, looking past her. Alex and Cassy were so distracted that they didn't see the new visitor.

"Who are you?" Kate asked in suspicious cuteness. She stared up at the young man, her little forehead scrunching up. Alexander turned at the question and together the three siblings stared up at the same odd pair Alex had seen days ago outside the border. Next to the old hunched hag now stood a tall, eighteen-year-old boy with watered down blue eyes and matted, straw-like hair. His nose was pointed and upturned, and his face was gaunt and pale. His cold hard stare was directed strait at the three in their cage.

"Who are you?"

Is was Cass who spoke the question this time; her tone had a serious edge to it. Her calculating gray eyes had a hardness in them that Alex had never been able to match, despite their similarity in color.

The boy sneered at them and ignored the question. His eyes filtered between the three, finally landing on Alex.

The crone next to him laughed. "I told you, Augustus. He has the amulet and the hair, and the little one has her Father's eyes. You should learn to listen to me more often."

"Shut up." the teen - Augustus - remarked coldly. "It doesn't do me any good if I don't have the necklace. Hellhound!"

The creature behind Alex growled and snapped.

"Never mind, idiot boy." the old woman spoke in her foreign accent. "I have it right here."

The eldest Blofis sat up quickly at the sight of the chain necklace dangling from the grandmother's bony grip. She smiled sinisterly at him, and for a moment her eyes glinted with such evil.. She almost seemed to radiate something foreign, and yet something so familiar... Something practically running through his veins.

"If you don't believe me, Augustus, try the thing for yourself."

The older boy stared darkly at her, taking the object in his hands. He swung it gently to the side. Within seconds he was gripping a cloak of rich navy blue. His watery eyes widened, and his features gained a frightening grin of madness. He stared up at the old woman.

"You know, Medea, I think you might be right after all."

. . . .

Percy was a block from his house when his cell phone rang. At first when he heard the noise, he thought that Alex must have left his phone in the car the last time he'd driven it. It took him a full minute to realize that the noise was coming from his own pocket. The ringing turned off, and then back on. Who ever it was, they were calling again. The demigod's blood froze, and he pulled up to the quiet neighborhood's curb and stopped.

Percy wasn't one to use a cellphone lightly. He and Annabeth had agreed to buy one each after they married because it would rid them of unwanted attention, and because the borders kept the monsters out, but he still didn't like having one. It was only for emergencies, and mainly because if he pulled out a drachma every time he wanted to call him wife, the kids might start getting uncomfortably suspicious. There were only a select few who knew Percy's number, and if he was being called at this ungodly hour of the night, it couldn't possibly mean anything good.

"Beckendorf." The sea child spoke into his phone. "Please tell me it's only a hydra."


	9. Dangerous Wishes Chapter 8

**Setting: The border walls of the city. With in each wall is a maze of rooms holding hundreds of demigod officers. This is where we find our hero, Percy Jackson.  
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Watching your children being carried off by an annoying-looking scarecrow and a horde of hell-hounds was something that Percy had never wanted to experience. Watching its recorded image from a screen inside an impenetrable building was even worse. It meant that the Half-blood had nowhere to release the immeasurable fury that was welling up inside of him.

Beckendorf watched in weighted silence.

"By the gods." Percy finally spoke. His voice did not hold the writhing power that he had expected; instead it was quiet and quite weak. He collapsed into the chair he had been given and stared at the repeating footage on the large screen, somehow unable to rip his eyes away. "Annabeth is going to kill me."

"It's ok, Percy." Jason spoke up beside him. "We'll get them back."

There was a moment of deafening silence - an eerie minute of the song of the dead. And then Percy's fist tightened with a sudden, great force.

He stood slowly, and there was power in his shoulders. He felt adrenaline coursing through him as his ADHD kicked in, brightening the senses he had not used in so very long.

"No." He spoke softly, his eyes never once leaving the screen. His voice and stature were terrifying, and the two half-bloods behind him felt their nerves flair with chills. "This time there is no 'we'."

His sea-colored eyes boiled as he stared intensely at the screen.

"And if either of you get in my way, you had better pray to Hades that your death is painless."

. . . .

"What's taking him so long?" Augustus droned in annoyance, staring at the haphazardly hanging clock on an adjacent wall of the warehouse. It looked like it was trying very hard to fall off, already tipping off the surface of the wall by almost 80 degrees. It's face was broken, and its second hand ticked probably every five minutes, but the tall, thin boy didn't really seem to care.

"Maybe he hasn't seen the tape yet." Medea retorted in her old, grinding voice. "Maybe he got into a car crash and died. You know how stupid humans can be. He's been living amongst mortals for how many years now."

The boy snorted at her from his warn-down beanbag chair, and the old lady (if that's what you could call her) rolled her eyes at him.

The Hellhounds growled and prowled around the cage.

Alex stared blankly into space as Cassy whispered soft things to Kate. The little girl didn't really understand what was going on, but it seemed to be settling into her mind that they were all alone in a cage in a great dark warehouse with a bunch of strangers, far away from home. And for once in her brave little life, Kate looked scared.

"I've done this." Alex realized out loud, his mumblings spoken in a soft, deep tone. "This is all my fault."

"No you haven't." Cass told him, stopping her quiet singing to look at him, but still rocking Kate in her arms. "It's not your fault at all. Or it's mine as much as yours, at least. You didn't put us in danger. We did that to ourselves."

"You!" Augustus called, sitting up in his beanbag chair a couple yards away and yelling towards them, although which 'you' he was talking to was indistinguishable. "Where did you come across this."

He held of the blue fabric of the cloak, gripping it violently in his hands.

The children stared at him blankly, to muddled from their experience to either answer or be openly defiant. The scarecrow guy snapped his fingers, and the Hellhounds around the cage growled and snapped at them. Kate screamed.

"Alright!" Alex yelled. "Fine! We found it in our attic!"

Medea looked bitterly at Augustus, but it wasn't for the sake of the children. Her pride had been hurt.

"I told you, Boy, the eldest looks like his father. It's Him."

"No." The young man stood from where he was reclining and strode across the hard cold floor towards the cage. He leaned down and grabbed Alex's chin roughly through the bars, jutting it closer towards him. Cassy made a noise of protest and concern, but Alex's face grew defiant, and he stared silently back at the man before him.

Augustus released his face and stood again.

"I never met the man." He spoke at Medea impertinently. "But I doubt that it could possibly him. No capable man would wait this long if he was able to save his children."

"Just look at the boy's face!" The ancient witch screeched. "Look at him! Look at that defiance! That is the look which I grew to hate in my years of solitude in Alaska. That is the face which I remembered as plane as day when I escaped from the arena and brought my message to Gaea. But she would not listen to me. She took me for a traitor and a liar. She sapped me of my magic because of my so-called cowardice in fleeing the battle. She banished me to the farthest reaches of the magic realm. Do not insult me you swine! I have lost much for that face! I will not forget it easily."

The straw-haired boy turned away from her.

"You are a dottering old fool. He murmured darkly. "He was probably a thief who stole the amulet and kept it out of site for his prize, and now his children have stolen it from him!"

"You wretch!" The sorceress screamed in a foreign voice. And it took a shocking second for Alex to realize that she was not speaking English - and that he could understand her.

Medea ignored his shocked expression and dug her nails into the arm of Augustus's retreating form. "You would be Nothing if I had not adopted you and taken you in as a child after the death of your parents! I watched over you!"

"You are so worthless!" He recoiled back at her, wrenching her nails out of his shoulder and casting her to the floor. "Making me call you 'Grandmother' and do your stupid little chores, collecting ingredients to make potions that Never Worked! You arrogant wench, you-"

At this point his words were cut short by the earthquake which had begun to rattle the building.

Ever living creature in the building stopped simultaneously and turned towards the door. Augustus's eyes grew wide, and a hungry glint was captured inside. He was unperturbed by the shaking foundation below him. Medea stared in a mix of fear and wonder, as if she could not believe that she had been right.

"It is him."

The large doors crumbled at the entrance to the warehouse. The shaking stopped, and a thick silence followed. As the dust began to clear, a shadowed figure appeared on the threshold. A terrifying feeling filled Alex, and he sunk farther into the cage.

Then he noticed the hounds.

The Hellhounds around them were scrambling over each other, howling and sniffing the air. At first Alexander thought that they were preparing to attack, but then he noticed that they were all going the wrong way. They were clambering on top of one another in a vicious haste to reach the back exit of the warehouse.

They were afraid.

No. They were Terrified.

Augustus's eyes still held a sick glee, and he paid no heed to his army of monsters and their effort to abandon him. He gazed unfalteringly at the door.

Alex breathed hard and pressed back against the cage wall. Cassy was too frozen to move, Kate still gripped in her arms.

Whatever creature was out there, it was more horrible and terrifying than anything inside. And Alex didn't want to be there when they found out what it was.

"Welcome." Augustus announced loudly in sick glee as the figure emerged from the cloud of debris.

"Percy Jackson."

Alex's eyes widened to the size of saucers. Cassy's arms went slack in shock, and Kate clambered quickly out of them, pressing her face to the bars of the cell in absolute glee, saying the one thing Alex could not possibly believe:

"Daddy!"


End file.
